A chaotic scene unfolded early Wednesday morning at Microtell Inn in Bowling Green after a man reportedly set a fire and jumped from the third floor of the hotel.
According to an arrest citation provided by police, officers were called around 5 a.m. to assist with a fire on the third floor of the hotel.
While enroute to the scene, police were advised an employee had been chased by a male who jumped from the third floor window. The employee said the man re-entered the hotel lobby, broke the glass panel at the front desk, and then chased her into the parking lot.
Police later identified the man as 40-year-old Derric J. Young of Oakland. He was walking outside the building when police arrived.
Officers with Bowling Green Police Department held Young at gunpoint, giving him verbal commands to stop and get on the ground, according to an arrest citation. Young was sweating profusely and was repeatedly saying, “Help, they’re after me.”
Police said Young appeared to be paranoid and was speaking quickly. He was later taken to The Medical Center.
The hotel employee told police she was at the front desk when the fire alarm sounded. A guest told her a man had just jumped out of the third floor window.
The woman said Young soon entered the lobby and yelled frantically before he pulled the glass panel down on the front desk, shattering it. He then jumped over the counter and chased the woman.
The employee ran to her vehicle to get a gun, which she told police she never pointed at Young but warned him she would use if he kept chasing her. She told police she was “in great fear for her life due to the actions of Young.”
Video surveillance from inside the hotel showed a white towel on fire being tossed into the hallway from room 327, the citation said. The room door was closed and Young never exited.
A guest from a nearby room stomped on the towel and extinguished the fire.
Firefighters with Bowling Green Fire Department forced entry into the room after smoke was visibly coming from it. When officers later searched the room, they found a pile of ash and fire damage on the walls and on a mattress.
Young later told police in an interview at The Medical Center that he was in bed smoking a cigarette before the fire started. He said he tried putting the cigarette out but started a larger fire.
His story appeared to change when he later said he intentionally started the fire to cause a distraction so he could escape the room since “people were after him.” Young told police he remembered jumping from the window but could not remember what happened after that.
Police learned he had been smoking meth earlier in the day, which they later also found in his sock while booking him into the jail.
Young is charged with first-degree arson, first-degree criminal mischief, first-degree promoting contraband, first-degree possession of a controlled substance, public intoxication, second-degree disorderly conduct and menacing.
He is being held in the Warren County Regional Jail without bond.
Source: WBKO
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